My partner and I were really looking forward to eating out on Christmas Day for a treat but after our experience at Friars Carse we will not be back!
We booked a table for 1pm. and arrived punctually. We were told to sit in the small bar area and someone would collect our drinks order. The bar was a few feet away and the barmaid was standing around but we had to wait 35 minutes to be served. After an hour of waiting we asked where our drinks were and were informed they had been put on the dining table for us but they were not ready for us to go through yet.
Not an impressive start and it got worse. The dining room was unheated and frozen. There was an absence of Xmas music, we spent all afternoon waiting between courses and the food was lukewarm and the helpings were small.
It was a total disaster from start to finish and I wrote and complained to the Parent Company and did not even get a reply. If you don't want your Xmas spoiling keep well away from Friars Carse!

We spent 4 nights in late July in this beautiful building. The grounds are fantastic, peace and tranquility, with beautiful mature trees and the river running through where we regularly watched fish jumping during the early evening. The hotel itself, although clearly old, is generally well cared for and the rooms were comfortable. Our experiences in the restaurant were, unfortunately, like chalk and cheese, ranging from one excellent meal which could hardly be faulted to another which virtually rivalled Fawlty Towers. The staff were incredibly helpful and loyal and extremely polite, but unfortunately when you have waited over an hour for firstly the wrong meal and then a cold meal you do start to dispair; however, we were fortunate, at least we got fed, one poor couple were told that their order had been lost between the dining room and the kitchen and got nothing!! With a little more co-operation between the staff, and some clear guidance from the management, we are sure that, as shown on one occasion, this hotel could be good.

I came to the Hotel in special circumstances for a Folk Music Summer School for five nights. This made special demands on the staff, with people staying in the building all day playing and singing, and being joined by an equal number of guests who were lodged elsewhere. In spite of the extra work almost all the staff were helpful and affable almost all the time.
My room was airy, clean and comfortable with a fine view over the lawn to the River Nith.
What surprises me about the other reviews is that no-one says much about the hotel's setting in place and time. It nestles in a crook of the River Nith in spacious grounds with magnificent trees. The house has associations with Annie Laurie, famed in song, and with Robert Burns. It was the home of his friend and neighbour, Robert Riddell. Burns sat in the Hermitage in the grounds, recently restored, and wrote. It is only ten minutes' walk from there to Burns's farm of Ellisland, now a Visitor Centre. The walk takes you in the poet's footsteps through to fields now being left ungrazed and uncultivated for the return of wildlife. A walk along the Nith in the other direction and a short climb takes you to a stone circle erected by Robert Riddell on what he thought was a druidic site.
Staying in such a house provides an experience on which it is impossible to put a price.

Recently stayed here on a 2 night break. When we got there up the long bumpy drive we went to check in . The receptionist must of thought we had stayed here before as looked gone out at us when he handed the keys to us and expected to know where the bedrooms were !! Very breif welcome and up to the room we went. The room was nothing special and we were very glad we had paid no more than 60 pounds. Im sure if you are a member you would get a better room.
Breakfast was ok , seemed nice and fresh, except they wanted us to pay a supplement for beans !!
The plus side to the hotel is it stands in beautiful grounds and for the money we paid would of struggled to get grounds as nice and big.
Its not as bad as some of the reviews make out just dont go paying over a hundred to stay here otherwise you will be dissapointed.
Ps , watch out for the many rabbitts that inhabit the grounds !